Xero Roadshow Blog

Having received an email from Xero inviting me to attend a free roadshow in Brighton that was promoting their software, I decided to go along. With a few of our clients already using Xero as their accounting software and hearing good reviews about it, I wanted to know more about what they can offer.

Xero are a cloud only based software, and other bookkeeping software seems to be moving away from the desktop platforms and onto the cloud, which clients are finding useful being able to access their accounts on the go, via their laptops, tablets or even mobiles, rather than being in front of the computer that the software is installed on.

Although the cost is ongoing with a monthly subscription for the cloud software, rather than a one-off fee for desktop software, clients are finding this to be worth the cost of having the flexibility and ease of use. It also allows us as your accountant to have a look at your accounts on a “live” basis, rather than send us a back up. We can therefore help you throughout the year quite easily and iron out any problems as you go along rather than find any at the year end, as we can log in and look at the data easily.

With several clients currently using QuickBooks Online (as well as other cloud based software), I was interested to see what Xero had to offer, as the cost between them is much the same. Xero are certainly a forward thinking company and always bringing out updates to help and improve their software, with the new additions such as Payroll, Quotes, Stock Control and “Find and Reconcile” added in the last couple of months. They also have third party companies who provide add-ons to the software, which if you have a specific area or tool you want to include within your accounts, these can be added into the software.

One major query was whether the software can do Fund Accounting, which is very important to a lot of our charity clients. Xero offer “Tracking” which does exactly the same as what the “Classes” do within QuickBooks, so any Charity wanting to use Xero, it can provide the requirements of the fund tracking you need.

Overall I believe Xero is a very good product, and certainly something we would offer to our clients alongside QuickBooks. At the end of the day, our client’s needs are what’s important to us, so if you would prefer one over the other, we would be happy to help get you started and provide the support you need. We have a good team here at Caladine which like to keep on top of the latest software and products available, so if you would like to know more about Xero or QuickBooks or any other accounting product, please get in touch and we can see what is the best available for you.

Liam Brooks
Accounts, IT and Payroll Manager